ADS Fuel Developments in Europe: Results from the EUROTRANS Integrated Project (original) (raw)
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The Integrated Project EUROTRANS (EURopean Research Programme for the TRANSmutation of High Level Nuclear Waste in an Accelerator Driven System) within the ongoing EURATOM 6th European Commission Framework Programme (FP6) is devoted to the study of transmutation of high-level waste from nuclear power plants. The work is focused on transmutation in an Accelerator Driven System (ADS). The objective of EUROTRANS is the assessment of the design and the feasibility of an industrial ADS prototype dedicated to transmutation. The necessary R&D results in the areas of fuel development, structural materials, thermal-hydraulics, heavy liquid metal technology and nuclear data will be made available, together with the experimental demonstration of the ADS component coupling. The outcome of this work will allow to provide a reasonably reliable assessment of technological feasibility and a cost estimate for ADS based transmutation, and to possibly decide on the detailed design of an experimental A...
Any nuclear fast reactor is able to burn and transmute minor actinides (MA), but the amount of MA content has to be limited to a few percent to avoid unfavourable consequences on the coolant void reactivity, Doppler effect, and delayed neutron fraction, and therefore on the dynamic behaviour and control. Accelerator driven system is instead able to safely burn and/or transmute a large quantity of actinides and Long-Lived Fission Products (LLFP), as it does not rely on delayed neutrons for reactor control in normal or accident conditions. This paper summarizes and compares the results of neutronic calculations aimed at evaluating the transmutation capability of subcritical cores cooled by Lead-Bismuth Eutectic alloy and loaded with assemblies based on (Pu, Am, Np, Cm) oxide dispersed in a molybdenum metal or magnesia matrices. It also compares the thermo-mechanical behaviour of these innovative fuels versus some key parameters, namely gas release and pellet swelling. The detailed neu...